Carbon dioxide in atmosphere at highest level in human history

John Amos power plant, coal burning and one of the most polluting plants in the US, looms over Poca, West Virginia near Charleston. From "Earth Under Fire: How Global Warming is Changing the World." By Gary Braasch, 2005. less

John Amos power plant, coal burning and one of the most polluting plants in the US, looms over Poca, West Virginia near Charleston. From "Earth Under Fire: How Global Warming is Changing the World." By Gary ... more

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John Amos power plant, coal burning and one of the most polluting plants in the US, looms over Poca, West Virginia near Charleston. From "Earth Under Fire: How Global Warming is Changing the World." By Gary Braasch, 2005. less

John Amos power plant, coal burning and one of the most polluting plants in the US, looms over Poca, West Virginia near Charleston. From "Earth Under Fire: How Global Warming is Changing the World." By Gary ... more

Carbon dioxide in atmosphere at highest level in human history

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Buildup of carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere has topped 415 parts per million--the highest level in human history--according to new measurements taken by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, atop Mauna Loa in Hawaii.

The amount of CO2 in the atmosphere has climbed 45 percent since the Industrial Revolution, and levels have risen from fewer than 320 parts per million in 1960 to today's record level of 415 PPM.

"The last time there was this much CO2 in our atmosphere there were trees growing at the South Pole," reported Grist.

"Not just in recorded history, not since the invention of agriculture 10,000 years ago, since before human history existed millions of years ago."

Carbon dioxide is the greatest contributor to human-caused global warming. Coal, oil, natural gas and automobile engines all send CO2 into the atmosphere. Despite efforts to curb emissions, centered on the West Coast, levels continue to go up.

Why? Because humans put 37 billion tons of carbon dioxide into the Earth's atmosphere last year.

Ralph Keeling, a professor at Scripps Institute of Oceanography, said in a statement:

"The average growth rate is remaining on the high end. The increase from last year will probably be around 3 parts per million, whereas the recent average has been 2.5 parts per million."

The urgency of the climate crisis has escaped the Trump Administration, witness last week's meeting of the eight-nation Arctic Council. At the insistence of the United States' climate was not mentioned in the council's communique.

Instead, in a speech, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo waxed on about benefits from melting ice in the Arctic. It means "new passageways and new opportunities for trade," Pompeo said, and reduced shipping times.

While heat waves increase, forests die, fires sweep across the West, hurricanes of increased power batter the Gulf Coast and the Southeast, rising waters threaten to inundate Pacific and Indian Ocean nations, and ocean acidification strikes the Northwest's shellfish industry.

Columnist Joel Connelly has written about politics for the P-I since 1973.